Sutanovac: Opposition MPs want inquiry commission set up

BELGRADE - Dragan Sutanovac, MP of the opposition Democratic Party (DS) and former defense minister, said Tuesday that opposition lawmakers and citizens wanted the Serbian parliament to set up an inquiry commission to determine how a recent military helicopter accident killing all seven people on board had really happened.

"The Serbian parliament has formed inquiry commissions more than once and I expect the parliamentary majority to allow the public to find out what truly happened through an inquiry commission," Sutanovac told reporters in the parliament.

He said that, two days after the March 13 tragedy in which the helicopter was used to carry a sick baby for treatment in Belgrade, the Democratic Party MP group had urged the parliament's Defense Committee to hold a meeting and present any information they had about what had happened.

Asked whether he thought that Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic actually accused Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic and Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar when he had said that he would not allow anyone to hold them accountable, Sutanovac said that it was an extremely ill-thought-out statement, particularly since no reports on the accident had yet been made.

Sutanovac said that such tragedies were rare but did happen and he had not sought Gasic's resignation because of the tragedy, but rather because of violation of procedures.

Photo Tanjug Video, camera operator Igor Skendzic